It is known to provide so-called Location Based Services (LBS) in cellular communication networks, such as a cellular wireless telephone network. Such services typically comprise a mechanism for estimating the location of a mobile terminal, e.g. with the help of satellite-based positioning systems (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, etc.) and/or a Mobile Positioning System (MPS). Said LBS mechanisms are known to enable content delivery based on the location of a user or a vehicle (mobile terminal). Based on the knowledge of the mobile terminal's location, specific location based services can be offered to said mobile terminal, e.g. alert messages for upcoming road traffic hazards or indications toward deviations to avoid traffic jams. In these examples the user is a vehicle with a respective mobile terminal on board.
It is further known to broadcast information with the help of so-called Cell Broadcast Services (CBS), in order to distribute information to mobile terminals within one or more cells. The respective mobile terminals have to enable the listening of the respective broadcast channel. A so-called Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) is known that provides a broadband broadcast to mobile terminals.
Such data communication in cellular communication networks is dominated by using a request response communication mechanism that is triggered by the mobile terminal, or point-to-point (P2P) data communication using Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Message Service (MMS). Further, said LBS technologies or the aforementioned broadcast technologies are being introduced for enabling an enriched request response communication.
One possible implementation of an LBS uses a grid formed by crossing grid lines so as to define grid fields, or tiles, that are framed by the grid lines. Usually, four grid lines form at least one tile of a square-like, rectangular, or any 4-polygon-like shape. The grid, the grid lines, and the tiles can be defined so as to cover a given service area with one or more tiles. Said service area may consist of one or more contiguous areas of arbitrary shape in which said network service is to be provided. An example can be a circular service area covering a road intersection. In general, the service area is independent from the grid, the grid lines, and thus also from the tiles.
Such network services may involve information indicting the position and the extension of the grid lines, crossing information indicating that a mobile terminal has crossed a grid line, i.e. indicating that the mobile terminal has entered a specific tile, and tile information for keeping track of what mobile terminals are currently inside a given tile. Said information concerning the grid lines may be conveyed to the mobile terminals so that a crossing of one grid line can be detected by the mobile terminal. Such crossing may trigger the generating and sending to the network side (e.g. a responsible target network entity) of said crossing information. Correspondingly the network side can keep track of what mobile terminal(s) are in what tile for maintaining said tile information.
When the network service is to send any information (e.g. a message, such as a traffic hazard warning) to some or all mobile terminals that are currently inside a given service area, it can be referred to the tile information so as to determine all the mobile terminals that are inside the tiles that cover the specific service area. Referring to said tile information can also yield an identification of all the target mobile terminals. Thus, messages can be then sent only to these target mobile terminals ensuring that the right terminals are addressed, e.g. the ones that may be affected by a warning, and that—at the same time—unnecessary communication to mobile terminals outside the service area is avoided.
Such conventional concepts usually deploy tiles with a fixed size so that a constant number of tiles cover a given service area. A corresponding exemplary situation is shown in conjunction with FIG. 2A, in which the four tiles 101, 102, 103, and 104, formed by crossing grid lines 1101 to 1105, cover an exemplary service area 200. In such situations, the tiles are assumed to be constant and to not to take into account any detailed relation between the service area and the actual tiles. For example, the tile 104 of FIG. 2A overlaps with the service area 200 only by a small fraction. In any way, the actual tile size may have significant impacts on signalling capacity and/or messaging overhead. As a consequence, the overall bandwidth required by the network service may depend on the tile size. For example, messages may be sent to all terminals inside tile 104 although most of the terminals that are located inside tile 104 may not be inside the service area 200.
Therefore, there is a need for a method of providing a network service, and corresponding network entities, network systems, computer programs, and computer program products that take into account the dependence of the required bandwidth of the network service (i.e. radio and processing resources) on actual tile size. Such a solution is desirable, since less bandwidth may be needed, resulting in—amongst others—a saving in the total cost of ownership.